Goodbye X6 and IBM System x

Seems just last week IBM was touting the new X6-based systems, the latest in its x86 System x server lineup. Now the X6 and the entire System x line is going to Lenovo, which will acquire IBM’s x86 server business. Rumors had been circulating about the sale for the last year, so often that you stopped paying attention to them.

The sale includes System x, BladeCenter and Flex System blade servers and switches, x86-based Flex integrated systems, NeXtScale and iDataPlex servers and associated software, and blade networking and maintenance operations. The purchase price is approximately US $2.3 billion, about two billion of which will be paid in cash and the balance in Lenovo stock.

Definitely NOT part of the sale are the System z, Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers, and PureApplication and PureData appliances. These are considered part of the IBM Enterprise Systems portfolio. This commitment to the z and other enterprise systems is encouraging, especially in light of the latest IBM quarterly financial statement in which all the system hardware platforms did poorly, including System x.

DancingDinosaur’s planned follow up to last week’s X6 column in anticipation of a reported upcoming February briefing on X6 speeds and feeds is now unlikely. IBM pr folks said no such briefing is planned.

Most of the System x team appears to be departing with the products. Approximately 7,500 IBM employees around the world, including those based at major locations such as Raleigh, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Taipei, are expected to be offered employment by Lenovo, according to the announcement.

IBM, however, may become more active than ever. Recently, IBM announced that it will invest more than $1 billion in the new IBM Watson Group, and $1.2 billion to expand its global cloud computing footprint to 40 data centers worldwide in 15 countries across five continents. It also announced bolstering the SoftLayer operation, sort of a combined IaaS and global content delivery network, plus earlier investments in Linux, OpenStack, and various other initiatives. DancingDinosaur will try to follow it for you along with the System z and other enterprise IBM platforms.